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Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
A proposed design showing the facility’s independent living, memory care and assisted living spaces, as well as parking.
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Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
Mountain Brook residents listen to discussion of a senior living facility at the May 28 Mountain Brook City Council meeting.
Residents generally had positive things to say during a public hearing held in late May to consider a request to rezone a parcel from local business to a planned unit development for a luxury senior living facility.
The matter was first discussed at a Mountain Brook City Council meeting in November 2023, where residents had concerns about the size and design of the proposed development at 2900 Cahaba Road.
“It seemed like they were very responsive to the changes we made,” Allan D. Worthington, principal and CEO of Dominion Partners, said after the two-hour meeting on May 21. “I didn’t hear anyone with concerns about the changes we made on Cahaba Road, which were the bigger changes. I was really pleased with the response tonight.”
Amanda Loper said she likes that the development company is proposing housing for a population that really needs it.
“They are the boomers, they make up a large part of our community and their housing needs are different than they were maybe 20, 30 years ago,” she said. “I really like that this would be a place for folks to go into that next season and stay connected to their community and close to their community. Maybe then the houses they move out of, their grandkids or younger families can move into and then go to the great schools we have here.”
Loper said the changes she saw presented were not insignificant.
“They pushed the building back a really significant amount [and] they’ve lowered a story,” she said. “Those are pretty big changes that probably affected the economics of the building. From my perspective, which is an outside one, I think the project sponsor is working to accommodate the community’s requests.”
Charlie Perry said two of his favorite people have already expressed interest in residing at the proposed senior living facility. He noted three issues that residents had with the original plan.
“The first one was it would overpower the village and destroy the ambiance,” he said. “The second one was it would increase congestion and density and traffic issues. The third one was flooding.”
The revised plan “helps the ambiance/overpowering issue because they’ve moved it back,” Perry said. “It’s an improvement as far as the degree to which it overpowers the architecture. That’s better.”
Perry said he was not as confident about the answers to other issues discussed during the hearing.
“I’m not happy with the traffic report because they’ve never gotten it right yet, even when I was planning commission chairman,” he said. “It just doesn’t work.”
Worthington and others on his team said stormwater drainage will be better when the development is in place. Perry was unconvinced.
“The concept is good, but they don’t have anything down, so I don’t know,” he said. “I will say that the engineers on every project, every big project, have been wrong. I won’t say they’re wrong now, but they’ve not shown us in their report.”
Worthington said he understands resident concerns, especially with Mountain Brook’s history of stormwater issues.
“I get that,” he said. “We hired qualified, competent experts to do the traffic study. Skipper [Consulting] has been doing traffic study for as long as I’ve been around.”
As for stormwater, Worthington said, “We’re controlling the water through basically what I call a bladder that holds the water in it. That’s a pretty good way to do it, and I think we’re going to do really, really well.”
Fire Chief Chris Mullins expressed concern that the facility could increase the number of non-emergency calls for his department.
“I have no problem with emergencies. That’s what we’re here for,” the chief said. “It’s the non-emergency lift-assists that should be performed by the staff, that they’re not performing, that they call the fire department for.”
Mountain Brook Fire Department has answered calls from other retirement facilities when residents fall and can’t get up on their own.
“This is nothing new for us,” he said. “The difference is, in my opinion, if you’re living in an assisted living facility, the word says ‘assisted living.’ That’s living with assistance.
“Assistance means if I fall, you [a staff member] can get me up if I’m not injured,” Mullins said. “If you’re injured, it’s a totally different thing. If you’re not injured, you’re paying for that assistance.”
“I’m not being calloused,” he continued. “I just have to be careful because we have to provide service for all the residents here. If my call volume goes up by 10% immediately, then I’m gonna be scrambling. I don’t want to be making calls at a facility where they should be taking care of themselves.”
The council took no action on the rezoning request and will revisit the matter at an upcoming council meeting.
